Heads up on "Soap Season One" (1 Viewer)

[James_Garner]

I Bought "Soap Season One" today & I skimmed all three discs. For the most part, it's not bad; in fact, the first 15 episodes have the original expanded opening sequence not seen since the original Prime-time airings. HOWEVER, for some reason Columbia-Tristar used the early 1980s syndicated versions of episodes 16 & 17 (with the shortened recaps & the fadeout before the "Portrait Fight") & the picture quality on these two episodes is not as good as the other episodes. I dont think any actual episode content was cut, though. All of the other episodes before and after episodes 16 & 17 are fully uncut. Just wanted to let everyone know in advance

 

[Dane Marvin]

James - Do you think the original tapes of those two episodes were damaged or destroyed somehow?

Thanks for the heads-up, I still plan to have this ASAP.

 

[James_Garner]

James - Do you think the original tapes of those two episodes were damaged or destroyed somehow?

I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe someone who has the original Columbia House tapes might know.

 

[Ray_Gootz]

Just want to let everyone know that this set includes Chapter Stops something folks bitched about with The Jeffersons and Good Times.

 

[David Lambert]

Thanks for the info...I've bought my copy but haven't broken the wrapper on it yet. Won't until the weekend, probably.

I imagine that the alternate versions of those two eps were due to damaged original elements. Columbia has done this before where necessary. Them's the breaks. It's good to know that you think the episode is complete, though. I never saw the eps enough times to have known the difference, personally. I'll enjoy what I've got, I'm sure.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I imagine that the alternate versions of those two eps were due to damaged original elements. Columbia has done this before where necessary. Them's the breaks.

That didn't happen with Season 2 of Sanford & Son. There's an old thread about it somewhere, but one of the episodes is a cut syndicated version. A longer version does exist because I had seen this episode on TV Land about a week before I watched the DVD. The TV Land version is indeed longer, but still shorter than it probably was in 1974 or so. In this instance, original elements apparently were available but Columbia just screwed up. Which Columbia release are you referring to?

Jeff

 

[RobertCharlotte]

I'm not going to bother getting Soap season one until season two is out.

CTHV bit me once on Larry Sanders, and I'm not keen to be bitten again.

 

[Jon Martin]

I'm not going to bother getting Soap season one until season two is out.

It's kind of a Catch-22. Unless enough people buy season 1, they won't release season 2.

With Larry Sanders, the reason people didn't buy it was because it was overpriced. They've come down in prices for current sets. Great set, wish others would have been released.

 

[Dane Marvin]

It's kind of a Catch-22. Unless enough people buy season 1, they won't release season 2.

This is why season 2 of The Mary Tyler Moore Show doesn't exist. The Soap season 1 set is so cheap (seriously -- it's $20 for 20-some-odd episodes!) that I don't mind making the investment to help ensure a second season on DVD.

 

[Rick P]

FWIW - Soap Season 1 is #29 on the Amazon best sellers list... (as of 12:30 9/18)

 

[MishaLauenstein]

Thanks for the info.

How do you know they're uncut?
What did you compare them to?

I think I can live with a shortened theme song on a couple of episodes, as long as none of the scenes are cut. I would have thought they'd put the summertime clip shows on seasons 1 2 (and 3 if there was a 3rd) since season four is going to be 1 hour episodes and will be long enough on its own.

 

[Ray_Gootz]

I've only seen Season 2 befor I got the box set but what I love is how sweet the show can be one second and then offensive the next. I don't think there has ever been a show like this again and TV really needs one.

My favorite moment:

Cop: Your a suspect.

Benson: Me? Why?

Cop: 2 reasons. One: Because your black.

Benson: Sounds fair.

They'd NEVER get away with a scene that brutally offensive and brutally honest again. I love this show!

 

[Dane Marvin]

Watching it right now and loving it. Robert Guillaume and Billy Crystal especially shine; I can see how this show made the careers of both these actors.

I also wanted to note that the packaging and the disc art are gorgeous for a Columbia TriStar release.

 

[Pascal D]

i order this last week .can't wait to watch it.

P.S. It's a blind purchase for me.I think i will love it

I hope that they will release all 4 seasons though

 

[ScottR]

Episodes 16 and 17 are 2 and a half to three minutes shorter than all of the other episodes.

 

[Paul Drake]

Episodes 16 and 17 are 2 and a half to three minutes shorter than all of the other episodes.

So that begs the question: are we dealing with edited episodes or not? I can understand some shortfalls from the shortened intros and episode recaps, but 2.5 - 3 minutes sounds more like syndication cuts.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

They are syndication versions. I don't know whether the full episodes are lost -- I remember that The Comedy Network in Canada, which runs Soap uncut on Saturdays, was sent a few cut episodes (including the pilot, which is uncut on the DVD), but I don't remember whether these two were among them. It's a disappointment because one of those episodes is among my favorites (the William Daniels episode), but I don't know that there's anything to be done about it. :frowning:

 

[MatthewA]

Once again, I have the Columbia house tapes and will document to them what has been cut.

 

[RobertCharlotte]

For what it's worth, I couldn't resist the $19.99 price tag at Costco. So feel free to ignore my earlier post.

 

[Paul Drake]

This thread brings up an interesting point. We've always heard that many motion pictures from before 1950 no longer exist and most early television that wasn't preserved on kinescope is long gone. Have we lost some recent television also?

"Soap" isn't all that old, but it appears that at least two complete episodes from the 1st season are gone. Was there truly only one complete episode of broadcast quality in existence?

Hypothetically speaking does this mean that other shows from the 70's that aren't often syndicated ("Cannon", "Barnaby Jones", etc.) could be lost forever or exist only in truncated prints if a single master was damaged?

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the workings of the archiving of television shows can chime in. Please note that I am only talking about episodic television, not daily game shows or talk shows which were not well preserved even in the 70's.